Sunday, January 19, 2014

This was another Sunday just like so many others this year; sunny, warm, 53 degree water, very little wind and great swimming conditions with one exception (more on that later).  Sylvia, Niel, Sam and Katie swam, Rob body surfed while Allison, Rick and Rhonda held down the beach. Sylvia went left down the beach and back.  Niel, Katie and Sam went over to the Cal Poly Pier, came back to the end of the Avila Pier and in along the pier.  There were some 4'+ breakers so getting out was a bit more fun than it has been.  There were a lot of seals over near the Cal Poly Pier. One small one picked us up and followed Sam all of the way to the beach.  The only downside with this swim was another boat problem much like the one last week.  This time the boat came in from the east and ran parallel to the beach at high speed while well inside the length of the Avila Pier.  I'd like to see our buoys back.

niel

Sunday, January 12. 2014

We had another unseasonably beautiful day at Avila Beach. It was in the 60's with a water temperature of 53.  There were gusty offshore winds but on the beach close to the seawall it was warm.  Since it was blowing directly offshore the wind put only a small chop on the water close to the beach.  There were occasional 3 to 4' waves, seals playing in close and dolphins out past the end of the pier.  Niel, Amy, Ron and Brad swam.  Rick, Rhonda, Byron, Sharley and Dave Van Mouwerik traded stories and soaked up the sun on the beach.  We swam down to Fossil Point and back covering just over a mile.  The tide was quite low so we stayed farther off the beach than usual in order to avoid the surf that was breaking neat the point.  Just as we grouped up near the pier a guy in a small Zodiac came through the Avila pier about mid way, He headed out along the pier and then turned left towards us.  He completed a full circle , messed around a bit and then crossed back under the pier.  I don't believe that he ever saw us. There was no harm done but I felt more threatened by this guy than most any other animal that I have come across in the water.

niel 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

It was a beautiful day for a swim; sunny, calm and a flat ocean.  The water temperature was up (!) to 54 degrees.  Niel, Amy, Sam and Katy made up a route that was a bit over a mile, swimming up and down along the beach and then out to the end of the pier and in.  The water was very clear.  There were quite a few seals around and one strafed Amy and then popped up in front of her which gave her quite a start.  We finished up and enjoyed the warm sun up next to the wall.  Rob got in and splashed around and Rick and Rhonda soaked up some sun.

niel

2014 New Year's Day Swim

Sylvia, Amy and I did a 9AM New Year's Day swim along the Avila Pier.  The water was 53.5 degrees which was a bit warmer than the air temperature.  It was sunny and beautiful with some head high sets and a very high tide just when we got in.  This was the first time Amy had attempted this swim but once Sylvia got in the peer pressure was on and she made the plunge.  

            Sylvia checking out the drop.                                                                      Amy

                                                    In and heading to the beach.

Afterwards we had hot coffee and enough treats for a dozen swimmers.  We got to watch a pod of dolphins that were feeding around the reef that is towards Fossil Point. 

The route map doesn't look like much but the detail of my start is interesting.

I was curious how the gps would record my start.  I seem to have gone in a direct manner but then ascended back onto the pier and made a rather messy re-entry.  The gps has always been much less accurate with elevation than location.  In this case it has me beginning at +9M, dropping directly to -16M and then descending to -64M (!) before regaining the surface.

I'll be back Sunday for a longer swim.

niel

Sunday, December 29, 2013

For the last swim of 2013 Avila put on a great show.  It was clear, sunny, and very warm on the beach with no wind and 53 degree water.  There was a swell out of the SE that produced an occasional 3+ foot set of waves and put some real roll on the water's surface.  Rob, Niel, Tom Lorish, Amy and John Hampsey were joined by Loren and Kelly, a couple of Rob's friends from out of town.  Loren and Kelly were reacquiring their open water swimming chops so we started out with a loose plan to swim a shortened triangle that would give them a chance to ease into things.  Rob stayed with Kelly who was going without a wetsuit and was having trouble getting in.  John accompanied Loren who decided to head back to the beach rather than swim too far out from shore.  If you have not been in cold water in a while caution is always the best course. Tom, Niel and Amy worked around the end of the pier and back towards the 'buoy' line.  John had dropped off Loren and swam east parallel to the beach to reconnect with us.  We swam back to the pier and came in.  

NEW YEAR'S DAY SWIM

We are going to swim (in the water) at 9 AM on New Year's Day.  We will walk out to the end of the Avila Pier and swim back to shore.  Wear whatever you are comfortable in.  The water will be about 53 degrees.  If you want to start from the beach and swim out and back that is fine too. POTLUCK afterwards. 
The 9 AM start time will give us a chance to get in and out of town before the people attending the Avila Beach Polar Bear Plunge arrive, or, you will have a prime parking spot if you want to stay and do the plunge at noon.

niel

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Niel, Rob, Amy and John Hampsey swam today.  The water was 53 degrees. It was calm with on a small swell and an occasional set of 2 to 3 foot waves.  There seemed to be a lot of gulls around but not much other wildlife.  We swam out and left, down to the end of the sea wall which is about where the buoy line ends.  We turned and swam to the end of the Avila Pier and came in along the pier to our starting point.  We covered a little over .6 of a mile.  
My gps didn't start when we did so there is no route map today.

Rob and I ran into Alan Raul and Cary Geihs out on the pier.  They have organized a Avila Beach New Year's Day Polar Bear Swim.  Check out the flyer.
We'll talk next Sunday about what we want to do for a New Year's Day swim.

niel

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Niel, Brad, Jon and Ron swam today.  Allison paddled for us.  Rob decided to soak up some sun on the beach.  Ron is from Bend, Oregon, in town for a few days and found us through someone he spoke to at Kennedy.  He has done some tri's, including the beyond Ironman distance one in Bend.  They do their open water swimming in lakes so this was a treat for him. The water was 53 degrees, it was mostly sunny with no wind and small waves.  Except for the water temperature the swimming conditions were great.  Ron turned out to be a strong swimmer, keeping up with Jon and Brad.  Jon and Brad were tired/recovering and this was going to be new for Ron so we stayed close to the shore incase anyone decided to bail out. This swim was 1603 meters and I was in the water for 34 minutes.  After we got out there were several pods of dolphins close to shore.  The water did not feel much warmer to me than yesterday's mile in 50 minus temperatures but I was not nearly as cold after I got out. 

niel

Will Swim For Food, Saturday December 14, 2013

The 4th Annual Santa Cruz Will Swim For Food Fundraiser

Rob Dumouchel, Ali Beug, Leslie Tappin Lorish and I had a wonderful experience Saturday at the Will Swim For Food Fundraiser in Santa Cruz. There were more than 70 swimmers that raised a total of $70,640.00 (so far, donations are still being accepted!) for food banks from San Diego to Oregon as well as Virginia and Louisiana.  

It was sunny with an air temperature of about 40 degrees at the start.  The water temperature was cold for this time of the year at 48 to 50 degrees.  

I had a great swim and thanks to our donors the Avila Dolphins raised $2120.00 for the SLO Food Bank!

Deserving special comment are Rob, who swim without a wetsuit, Leslie, who swam in spite of a bad cold and Ali for whom this was the longest, roughest and coldest ocean swim that she had yet done.

About 15% of the swimmers went without wetsutis.

It's 40 degrees out, let's go swimming!

That's me , Rob, Ali, Leslie and someone in pink wading in.  It actually didn't feel super cold at this point but towards the end of the pier I could tell that the freezing feeling was not going to even out.

Leslie and Rob towing their ducks.  For a $150 donation you get a wood duck decoy that you can decorate and tow around the pier.

Down the other side of the pier and heading towards the finish.

 The finish.

The cool finishers medals are made out of blue glass.

niel

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Niel. Ali and Rob swam today.  It was 50 degrees and sunny when we got in with a mild offshore breeze, 1 to 2' surf, 53 degree water and flat swimming conditions. There were even some dolphins about halfway down the beach creating massive swim envy.   We decided to swim down to the point and back, covering about a mile in a tune up before next Saturday's 1 mile Will Swim For Food trip around the Santa Cruz Pier.  This Sunday's 50 degree air and 53 degree water was sure different than last weeks 80 degree air and 56 degree water.  I was most of the way to the point before I began to feel evened out with the water temperature. The return swim was into a small chop that had come up along with a line of high clouds that blocked out our sun.  When I got back to the pier I swam back to pick up Ali and we headed in to the beach together.  With no sun it was too cool to linger on the beach so once we showered and dried off everyone headed off.

At the Palm Springs Tri this weekend were  Rick and Rhonda Mareina (1/2 on Saturday) and Duke Parmley (Olympic on Sunday).  Rick had a time of 6:08:53.  I didn't find a time for Rhondia and results for the Olympic were not available as of this post.  If the weather conditions were anywhere near the cold and windy weekend that NOAA predicted they were going to have a Beyond Category experience.  Hope all went well.  Can't wait to hear all about it next Sunday.

niel

Sunday, December 1, 2013

What a day at Avila!  For me it began when I pulled into town and found Front Street from San Francisco St. to San Luis Street filled curb to curb with Harleys. Must'a been hundreds of bikes. Avila was the conclusion of a toys for tots run that attracts riders from as far away as San Diego and the central valley.  It was quite a site.  
The weather was just spectacular.  It was warm and windless, almost too warm on the beach, with no clouds, 1' surf and no swells. The water was 56 degrees.  Niel, Rob, Duke, Amy and Rick swam out and down to Fossil Point and back.  The swim out involved some regrouping, on the way back we swam without stopping. I covered .92 of a mile in a casual 38 minutes.  The water was clear enough that I could easily see the bottom when we were near the point.  

niel

Friday, November 29. 2013

Rick and I swam at 11 AM today.  The conditions were pretty nice.  It was sunny (at first) the water was 55 degrees and there was no wind.  There had been some large waves here on Thursday but they were mostly done Friday morning.  There were occasional 4' to 5' waves but a lot of pretty flat water in between and a 1 to 2 foot swell out of the SE. Rick and I did a counterclockwise triangle without going under the pier.  With a little timing we got out between the large waves without any trouble.  I'm still retraining, getting used to navigating without the buoys, so our route was a bit ragged, but the swimming conditions were quite good.  Riding up and down on the swell was fun.  When we got out I almost felt OK with having had that second piece of pie yesterday.  After the swim Dale McVay treated us to a ride buy. It was nice to visit with her for a while.  We'll be back Sunday for more.

Brad Masushita is competing in his first full Ironman distance tri in Mexico Sunday so keep a good thought for him!

niel

Sunday, November 24, 2013

We had 11 swimmers, one kayaker and 7 otters in the water today.  Rob, Sylvia, Yvonne, Niel, Duke, Ali, Amy, Rick, Brad, John Hanse and Kim swam, Allison paddled and the otters entertained themselves by following our slow clumsy selves in the water.  We only have one buoy left on the east side now and I expect that it will be gone next week, so swimming at Avila is now in winter conditions; no buoy line to organize a swim by and colder water.  The water was 54 degrees today with a small swell out of the SW.  There was no wind.  Sylvia and Yevonne swam left, parallel to the beach and back.  Niel, Duke, John, Ali, Brad and Amy swam with Allison over to the Poly Pier and back.  Rob, Kim and Rick swam around the Avila Pier. As you can see by the plot, without the buoys my route became less organized.  Brad and I made a jog to connect with Amy and Ali and I swam straight to the pier on the way back.  Buoys or not this swim was still about a mile. I was in the water a total of 38 minutes. 

I'd like to swim early on Thanksgiving but it will probably rain, so maybe a Black Friday swim could happen.   I'll float the question on the Google group site and see if anyone else wants to do a Work Off that Second Piece of Pie Swim.

niel 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Details of today's Grumpy Old Men Swim;

We had beautiful fall weather at Avila today.   It was sunny, warm and it started out calm.  The water was clear, 56 degrees and there was 1+ foot surf.  Sylvia and Yevonne got in early by themselves and swam left down the buoy line, on towards Fossil Point and back.  I was on the pier taking the water temperature when Sylvia and Yvonne were wading in and I could clearly hear their comments on the water temperature, but they get a pass on the grumpy thing because Sylvia doesn't wear a wetsuit and Yvonne goes with just a shortie.  The grumpiness was from the second group.   Ali, Niel, Rick and Duke did almost the same route.   Ali was extremely happy because she was getting reaquainted with her wetsuit after swimming without it up to now.  Niel was grumpy because his lower back was bothering him.  Duke was grumpy because he rode from Orcutt to Halama and back yesterday which was 80 miles with a lot of climbing.  Rick was grumpy because he had run for 2 hours yesterday in new (second time) shoes and blistered his feet.  So, the three guys dragged out butts into the water and swam to catch up with Ali.  When we got to the point the swimming was doing me enough good that I decided to stay out longer, so I swam to the end of the pier.  Duke, Ali and Rick headed back along the buoy line.   I finished up in 42m 30s and covered 1878 meters.
While we were relaxing and warming up on the beach a large pod of dolphins came along the beach. Some came in as close as the surf line while others were 50 to 100 meters beyond the buoy line.  They were numerous and very active with lots of splashing and jumping.  I don't know if they were playing or chasing lunch but it was fun to watch. 

Rob threw out the idea of an Avila Dolphins holiday party.  We have not had one in a while but they always used to be a lot of fun so let's get one planned.  So, Rob, Allison, who is doing the organizing?

niel

Sunday November 10, 2013

We had a small crowd today but a nice swim.  Sylvia and Yvonne swam down to Fossil Point and back and Niel, Jon and Rick swam a half triangle.  It was sunny with a slight breeze that started in the SE and switched to the SW. The water was 56 degrees, clean looking and the surf was 2 to 3'.  There was one seal messing about in the surf while we were getting in.  

Katie  did her first full length Ironman yesterday at Lake Havasu. She finished in 12:53. The details are at http://www.hitstriathlonseries.com/images/stories/havasu_full_13.pdf
Way to go!

Rick Marina has a full Ironman distance race coming up so he is considering doing a single martini lap in training.  No date yet. Tom, are you interested in joining in?  Anyone else?
I'll paddle for one swimmer.

niel

Sunday, November 3, 2013

We had nice conditions and and a good group of swimmers today.  It was sunny with only a slight offshore breeze and the water was 57 degrees.  Pretty decent for November.  Swimming today were Ali, Niel, Rick, Sam, Amy, John Hampsey and Duke.  Sylvia stayed on the beach and Rhonda came by as we were getting out.  We decided to do a mile by swimming down past the end of the the buoy line to Fossil Point and back.  You can tell by my trace that we took different lines and I would up a ways inside the group at the turn around.  We all turned in at the second buoy to avoid getting too close to some fishing lines near the pier.  We covered 1585 meters in a total time of 35 min. 44 sec.  Ali deserves recognition for being the only one in the water today without any neoprene. 

Here is a follow up on the Will Swim For Food fundraiser.   The swim is Saturday December 14th. It is a one mile swim around the Santa Cruz Pier and is a fundraiser for local food banks. Last year over $50,000 was raised and this year they have set a goal of $80,000.  You can check out the history of this swim at http://www.willswimforfood.com/index.php
Rob did it last year and I am joining in this time so there is a Avila Dolphin team! We are raising money for the SLO Food Bank and so far have $885.00 pledged.
The water will be in the low 50's but wetsuits are welcome.  There are four ways you can participate;  
If you want to join the swim you should e-mail Rob at robdumouchel@gmail.com or Nick Alaga the event director at director@willswimforfood.com  and let them know that you want to be a swimmer.  Nick will send you a link so you can create your pledge page, set your fundraising goal and join the fun.  
If you want to donate you can do so to an individual swimmer through the website, or, if you want to donate by cash or a check you can give your donation to a swimmer. It will be recorded toward our fundraising total and the swimmer will forward the donation to the Food Bank .
Lastly, you can sponsor a duck!  Check them out on the website, this looks like great fun.  For $150.00 you can sponsor a full sized duck decoy. The donor gets to decorate it and select swimmer who will tow it around the pier. 

Correction - Lastly, our own fast swimming Jon Harmse completed the Florida Ironman Saturday in 10:52:31.  He was bib number 1282
Congratulations to him and hope to see him next Sunday.


niel